


Bringing Him Back

by AvengersCompound (emilyevanston)



Category: Captain America (Movies), Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Winter Soldier (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bucky Barnes Bingo 2019, Canon-Typical Violence, Hydra (Marvel), M/M, Mind Control, Murder, Not a lot of comfort though, WinterHawk Bingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-03
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2021-01-21 04:43:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21293756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emilyevanston/pseuds/AvengersCompound
Summary: Clint is taken by HYDRA and turned into a monster.  Even Bucky he gets him back from them, Bucky isn’t sure he’ll really ever have his Clint back.Square filled: @winterhawkbingo - Mind Control, @buckybarnesbingo - K3, Rampag
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton
Comments: 4
Kudos: 56
Collections: Bucky Barnes Bingo 2019, Winterhawk Bingo





	Bringing Him Back

Waking up in bed alone was unusual, but it hadn’t been what made Bucky worry. Clint was a terrible sleeper and while he tended to try and make sure Bucky wasn’t getting any sleep either, there were days where whatever it was that had woken him and made him decided he needed to go out and get some air and Bucky would find him later perched up high, watching everything.

Not being able to find him the following day was a little concerning. His natural instinct had been to assume that Clint had finally come to his senses and left him. Which was kinda stupid really considering that Bucky had moved in with Clint. All his stuff was still there even if he did want to break up, he wouldn’t just abandon all his stuff.

When Bucky had called Natasha and then Kate and neither had seen Clint, his anxiety began to rise. He thought he’d go take a walk around Clint’s usual route. Maybe he’d stopped in for coffee and met up with someone he knew or intervened with a crime being committed or got stopped to sign autographs.

When he stepped outside to find Lucky lying on the stoop with his leash on Bucky panicked.

What had followed was three hours of walking the city and stopping and asking random strangers if they’d seen him, while at the same time he called Steve, Natasha, Kate, and Bobbi to let them know Clint was missing. Eventually, he’d found witnesses that claimed that they’d seen him being dragged into a van.

After that, it had been a full man-hunt. There was no sign of him anywhere. Bucky began to worry that maybe he was dead. That there was some kind of curse on him that had taken out Clint because god forbid Bucky was allowed to be happy and rather than taking him out, it had taken the man he was in love with. The only person he’d ever really been in love with.

After two months of Clint being missing, Bucky was starting to give up hope. God bless Steve Rogers and his perpetual optimism though. He kept saying that Clint would be fine. That he always was. That he’d spent two years searching for Bucky. So two months was nothing. They’d find him and he’d be fine.

They found him. Or more accurately, they found the result of the murderous rampage he went on. It had been a blood bath and Bucky was not alone in recognizing it. Natasha had recognized Clint’s blade work in the innocents that lay scattered through the room. She’d recognized HYDRA’s way of deploying its weapons and hitting its targets.

It took five more similar scenes of carnage before they were able to track him down. Clint’s ramage had taken out over 100 people, including children and Bucky wasn’t sure how the guy who he had always known to just joke things off, was going to recover from this.

“It’s Clint, and besides, he’s got us,” Katie said, the conversation of how they were going to save Clint veering back to the aftermath again. It was what she kept saying. Like a mantra. Natasha who kept saying that Clint was the best of them, wasn’t even sure if ‘us’ was enough to help him through this.

They were keeping watch from a rooftop after Intel had said this was going to be Clint’s next target. They knew his techniques. They had no concerns about catching him. Wanda was ready to help with any head stuff.

“Do you think this is my fault? That maybe they had come to take me back?” Bucky asked. It was something his mind kept swinging back to. That HYDRA had targeted that block to reclaim their asset and when Clint had spotted them they’d taken him instead. He had no way of knowing for sure but this whole thing had just seemed so unlikely. Of all the Avengers to go for, why grab the unenhanced guy who was partially deaf to act as your new killing machine?

“Who knows why HYDRA does anything,” Natasha said. “I’m not even sure they know half the time.”

There was some movement on the roof over and all three of them tensed watching closely. A cat jumped up on the wall and began to stalk along the edge.

“James,” Natasha said. There was a tone to her voice that sat somewhere between oncoming lecture and an attempt to be gentle. He recognized the tone from Steve. “If you can’t get through to him…”

“Don’t worry, Tasha,” Bucky said. “I can put him down if need be.”

“Hey! Wait!” Kate yelped. “No one is ‘putting Clint down’.”

“Katie,” Bucky sighed. “I don’t want to do that. But look at what he’s doing. If the choice is he gets away or I take him down…”

Natasha put her hand on Bucky’s arm. “No, that’s what I was going to say too.”

“Natasha…”

“No, James,” Natasha interrupted. “This is Clint we’re talking about. How many times has he not given up on us after everyone else had? We’re going to give him the same. If we can’t get through to him we catch him and see if Wanda can. If it’s a choice between killing him and letting him get away, we let him get away.”

“Then the blood of anyone else he kills is on our hands too, Natalia. I can’t have that. And he wouldn’t want that either.” Bucky argued.

“Oh, I’m Natalia now?” Natasha snarked.

“Shush, dummies.” Kate snapped, pointing to a shadow moving along the rooftops. “He’s here. Just don’t let him get away and we don’t have to worry about it.”

Natasha and Bucky looked at each other and gave a nod before running off in opposite directions. Bucky stuck to the rooftops, jumping from one to the next, while Natasha vaulted over the side and scaled down to the ground. They had a plan. They’d box him in. Try and talk to him. Kate would use her arrows to stop him from taking the exits she didn’t want him to, and then come in when he was cornered.

Clint was quick, but compared to Bucky he might as well have been moving in slow motion. When Bucky reached Clint, Clint spun running in the opposite direction. Natasha appeared behind him and he turned again running to the edge of a building, only to be stopped again by one of Kate’s exploding arrows.

He pulled out his sword.

“Clint, you don’t have to do this,” Natasha said.

“Who’s Clint?” Clint asked, swinging the blade. He rushed at Natasha first, the blade flashed through the air as he swung it. She blocked it with one of her battens and ducked under his arm, aiming one of the Widow Bites at his side. The shock seemed to jolt him for a moment and his eyes that had been so blank flashed recognition for a moment.

Bucky knew what was happening. Clint had just taken control from the back seat, but not for long enough. He was there. He knew what he was doing and he knew who they were but the drive to complete the mission was stronger.

Clint turned on Bucky. Bucky blocked the blade with his metal arm, catching it in the metal plates, and sending a jolt up through his shoulder and down his back as the circuitry malfunctioned. “Fuck. Clint, you jerk.” He cursed, the way he always did at home together when Clint did something dumb like putting ice down his back.

Clint faltered again. The phrase he recognized and connected to people who loved him. Natasha took the moment to hit Clint with another Widow Bite. This time it knocked Clint to the ground and he staggered back.

Kate ran up behind Bucky, her bow nocked and ready to fire. Clint looked up at the three of them blinking. “What…” he said shaking his head. “What…”

“Hawkeye,” Kate said, giving the little two-finger salute the two of them had agreed was the sign for their codename.

Clint brought his fingers two his forehead shakily. “Hawkeye.”

“There’s my idiot bird,” Natasha said crouching down and grabbing Clint’s chin, looking him over.

“Nat, I’m okay.” He whined trying to pull away from her death grip.

Bucky kneeled down next to him. “You sure?” He asked gently.

Clint nodded and then shook his head, lunging forward and melting into Bucky. Bucky pulled Clint close holding the archer to him with his flesh arm, the metal one still completely out of service.

“They made me… I killed… Buck…” Clint babbled against Bucky’s skin. Natasha began to rub his back in soothing circles and Bucky pressed his lips to the top of his head.

“I know. You’re safe.” Bucky whispered.

Clint’s hands opened and closed against Bucky’s back. “How… how… how can I…? How did you…?”

“I didn’t. But I had you. Now I’ve got you. Okay?” Bucky whispered against Clint’s ear.

Clint nodded and broke down, sobbing against Bucky’s chest. Natasha and Kate wrapped themselves around them both, nuzzling into him. Bucky still wasn’t sure how Clint would move past this. Bucky had never been able to, but he did know that he never felt more like himself when he was with Clint. He hoped he could be that for him too.


End file.
